"We are engaged in a shitty war," he said. "A shitty little war that is tearing apart the thing I love. Do you love the Marine Corps, Simpson?"
"Yes sir, I do."
"I mean do you really love it? Do you go to bed with it at night, wake up with it in the morning, see its sour side, see it when it's sick and tired, not just when it's glorious? Do you think about it all the time? Or do you think about where it's going to get you?"
The exchange only gets better from here. A fantastic work.
That is actually a fairly striking discussion of the issue of love, with a lot of parallels, I would contend, to the issues one confronts when dealing with another person (is it love or merely infatuation? etc.) and the typical exchange of vows ("better and worse, richer and poorer, sickness and in health, etc.").
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There was a pretty great interview with Karl Marlantes on OPB last year at http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/shows/northwest-passages-karl-marlantes/. Agree on the book. An amazing read.
ReplyDeleteThe most striking thing about this book is how it takes on race and racism. I haven't read another book that takes on race in such a frank manner and is brave enough to do so from a reasonably neutral standpoint while avoiding preaching.
ReplyDeletePeter, my seven years ended almost 20 years ago but I think about the Corps all the time. 'Matterhorn' has been on my shelf, staring over my shoulder as I fail, over time, to complete a writing project. Have watched a number of interviews and panel discussions w Marlantes. I'm impressed that he stuck it out so long to finally land a publisher. That part of the novel, the getting the thing written and out, is the helpful lesson at this point.
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